The government department will not require written general exams for honors candidates beginning next year, Susan J. Pharr, the chair of the department said last night.

Because they entered the department under the old rules, members of the classes of 1996 and 1997 will still be able to take the written general exam if they petition the head tutor, Pharr said.

"If [students] are honors [candidates] and they wish to take the written exam, they will, generally speaking, be able to do so," she said.

Beginning with the class of 1998, the general written exam for honors will be eliminated altogether, Pharr said.

But she said that the department will retain its oral exams for summa candidates and for students who fall between honors categories.

Pharr said the exams were being eliminated out of a belief that the department would be able to evaluate honors candidates without an examination.

"Our view is that we have a good basis for arriving at honors without having a written exam," Pharr said.

Currently, all candidates for honors must prepare a three-day take home examination in two of four subfields: theory, American government, comparative government and international relations. Concentrators write approximately eight pages in their choice of a major field and four pages in their choice of a minor field. This year's general exams were due at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 11.

"The honors determination will be based on GPA and performance on the thesis and an oral exam in the case of summa candidates and an oral in the case of students who fall between honors categories," Pharr said.

"I think it's a good change and it will be welcomed by the students," she said.

She said that one of the reasons the department chose to eliminate written general exams is that it caused some perverse effects in students' course selection.

"The effect was that students often waited until their senior year to take introductory courses believing that was the best way to prepare for the writtens," Pharr said. "But many members of the department felt that in a number of cases, students would be better off taking those introducto- ry courses at an earlier stage."

Professor of Government James Alt said hebelieved that the decision was a good one.

"My recollection from the [department meeting]is that the department's decision made very goodsense, in that it put more weight on the seniorthesis, which I personally think is a veryimportant part of the students' experience," Altsaid.

Pharr said the government department voted infavor of the recommendation in March and thechange was approved by the FAS educational policycommittee at its most recent meeting.

Associate Professor of Government MichaelHagen, the head tutor of the department, declinedto comment on the government department'sdecision.

"We're in the process of putting together anewsletter that will inform the students, and Ithink it would be inappropriate to comment beforethat," Hagen said last Friday.

He said that the newsletter outlining thechange will be mailed to government concentratorsthis week